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JSTU-J 304 , and Christians in Professor Daphne Tsimhoni Tuesdays and Thursdays 6:30-8:00 pm Class: Ballantine Hall 241

Office place: GB (Goodbody Hall) 312 Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00-3:00 pm Or by appointment Office phone: 812-855-8923 Email: [email protected]

Jews, Muslims and Christians in Israel

Established as the nation state of the Jewish people, Israel has an outstanding ethno-religious socio-cultural diverse population. This course will introduce the students to this diversity and its impact on Israeli politics and society. We will explore the historical origins of this complexity: The religious significance of the Holy Land, the preservation of Ottoman and British mandatory traditions, the 1948 war and the mass immigration to Israel from Europe and the Middle East. We will examine the socio-cultural and religious diversity within the Jewish majority that extends far beyond the common division between western European (Ashkenazim) and Middle Eastern (Mizrahim) and the Palestinian Arab minority that is no less complex and includes Muslims, Christians, and smaller communities. Based on socio-historical researches and documentaries, we will discuss the following issues: Is the breach between the Jewish majority and the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel bridgeable? Is there a 'demographic issue' in Israel? and if so, what is its impact on Israeli politics? Who are the 'Arab Jews'? Can they form a bridge between Jews and ? Is there an Israeli identity? What are its components? The course will discuss various approaches to the Israeli society as based on reading, documents, websites and videos that will be shown in class.

Course Requirements: Two short mid-term papers and a final essay. Specific requirements will be announced in due course. Active participation in class meetings is required. Grades will be weighed as follows: Two mid-term papers: 50 percent (25 percent each) Final essay: 40 percent Active participation in class: 10 percent

Required Books: To be purchased at the university bookstore. Other reading material will be posted on the web.

Dowty, Alan, The Jewish State A Century Later, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998 Rosenthal, Donna, The , Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land, New York: Free Press, 2003

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Course outline and reading: Note: Topics may overlap for more than one week due to film screening and discussion. I. Introduction: The Origins of Israel and Israeli Society T Jan. 29: Who are the Israelis? The Zionist revolution and Jewish immigration into Palestine during the British mandate; The Zionist ideology, ethnicity and social stratification Required Reading: Wasserstein, pp. 5-23, 31-39; Dowty, pp. 51-60 Th Jan. 31: Continued

II. Israeli Society during the First Decades of the State of Israel: T Feb. 5: The mass immigration to the state of Israel during the 1950s and 1960s; Building the state's democracy and political institutions; The 'melting pot' ideology, its impact on Israeli society and the making of the Ashkenazi political dominance Required Reading: Dowty, pp. 61-84; Rosenthal, pp. 97-112; Shafir-Peled, pp. 66-73 Th. Feb. 7: Continued

III. Middle Eastern 'Mizrahi 'Jews T Feb. 12: Ethnicity and social stratification; Who are the 'Arab Jews'? The rise of 'Mizrahi' identity Required Reading: Dowty, pp.148-156; Rosenhal, pp. 113-129; Shafir-Peled, pp. 74-95 Th Feb. 14: Continued

IV. The Arabs in Israel T Feb. 19: The origins of the Arabs in Israel; minority rights, inequality in law and practice; Israelization or Palestinazation? Required Reading: Dowty, pp. 184-215; Rosenthal, pp. 247-277; Optional: op.cit, 278-291 Th Feb. 21: Continued

V. Minorities within Minority: the Christians and Druze T Feb. 26: The Christians in Israel Required Reading: Tsimhoni, Christians, pp. 124-152; Rosenthal, pp. 305- 323 Th Feb. 28: The Druze in Israel Required Reading: Rosenthal, pp 292-304

VI. The Impact of the 1967 War and the Arab-Israeli Conflict T Th Mar. 4: The rise of messianism and the search for the biblical origins; settlements in the occupied territories and their impact on Israeli society Dowty, pp. 226-243; Shafir-Peled, pp. 159-183 Th Mar. 6: Continued

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March 8-March 16 Spring break

VII. The Expansion of Religious Ethnicity and its Impact on Israeli Politics T Mar. 18 The turn of Middle Eastern to the right wing politics The rise of the Shas party The expansion of Ultra-Orthodox parties influence on Israeli politics Required Reading: Dowty, pp. 159-183; Shafir-Peled, pp. 137-155 Th Mar. 20: Continued

VIII. The Mass Immigration of the 1990s: The Russians and Ethiopians T Mar. 25: The Russian immigration and absorption in Israel Required Reading: Ben Rafael, pp. 55-77; Shafir-Peled, pp. 308-323 The Ethiopians in Israel Required Reading: Rosenthal, pp 148-169 Th Mar. 27: Continued IX. Religion, Demography and Nationalism in Israel T April 1: Will Israel retain its Jewish majority? The discourse in Israel on Demography and Jewish/Israeli nationalism Required Reading: Wasserstein, pp. 25-30, 167-171 CBS data Th April 3: Continued

X. Jewish-Arab relations in Israel T April 8: Required Reading: Smooha, Ethnicity, pp. 300-319 Th April 10: Continued XI. Ethnicity and the struggle for constitutional and human rights T April 15: Required Reading: Shafir-Peled, pp. 260-307 The April 17: Continued

XII. Summary: T April 22: Will the State of Israel remain a Jewish democratic state? Is there an Israeli identity? Israeli nationalism? Required Reading: Dowty, pp. 249-255 Th April 24: End

Bibliography: Ben Rafael, Eliezer et.al, Building a Diaspora, Russian Jews in Israel, Germany and the USA, Leiden: Brill, 2006.

Shafir, Gershon and Peled, Yoav, Being Israeli, the Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Smooha, Sammy, "Ethnicity as a Factor in the ' Attitude toward Arabs," 4

pp. 300-319 in Kuturen und Konflikte im Vergeleich: Comparing Cultures and Conflicts: Festschrift fur Theodoer Hanf, edited by Peter Molt and Helga Dickow, Baden-Baden: Nomos. 2007

Tsimhoni, Daphne, "The Christians in Israel: Aspects of Integration and the Search for Identity of a Minority within Minority," in Middle Eastern Minorities and Diasporas, Edited by Ma'oz Moshe and Sheffer, Gabriel, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2002, pp. 124-152

Wasserstein, Bernard, Israelis and Palestinians: Why do they fight? Can they stop? New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004

Video Clips to be screened and discussed from the following list: Lul, (excerpts) - how Israelis accept aliya Salah Shabati – relations between the Ashkenazi kibutzim and middle eastern immigrants Life according to Agfa – the Israeli internal ethnic strife Wedding in : the Arab collective memory The Druze bride – the national dilemma of the Druze Medurat ha-shevet - life and concepts of Israeli settlers in the West bank A Trumpet in the Wadi – An impossible love between a Russian immigrant and an Arab girl in